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Sunday, December 11, 2005

Oberweis-Salvi: the media are salviating. Eisendrath in.

This is rich. Maybe not as rich as Oberweis ice cream, but rich, still. Republican Primary gubernatorial candidate Jim Oberweis is trying to get hitched, too. However, no ideological odd couple for him, as in Topinka-Birkett and Gidwitz-Rauschenberger. Nope, Oberweis has offered his Lt. Gov. running mate slot to a female social conservative to soften his hard edges, if I can still say that sort of thing. On the other hand, the lady's views on tort reform [see, below] could be a deal breaker for Jim. Did Oberweis think that through?

The Lady's name is Kathy Salvi [R-Mundelein]-- until today thought to be focusing on the 8th Cong. Dist. Republican Primary, with three major competitors in term of organization, resources, money, etc.: Investment Banker David McSweeney, State Rep./Attorney Bob Churchill and Businesswoman Teresa Bartels, as well as two candidates with less in the way of money and organization: Ken Arnold and Aaron Lincoln.

You can see my interview with Kathy by going to our webcast here. Of course, if Kathy ran for Lt. Gov., as Oberweis’ preferred mate, she would risk making the family a state-wide three time loser, as former State Rep. and husband Al Salvi got beat pretty good by now Senior Senator Dick Durbin in 1996 and now two-term Secretary of State Jesse White in 1998.

Kathy is pretty much 1000% Pro-life and is, as she put it on my show, a 2nd Amendment gal, so in terms of their articulated views on Guns, Gays, God and abortion- as DNC Chairman Howard Dean put it-- Kathy and Jim should be pretty consistent as social conservatives. She may need to do some work to get up to speed on the state fiscal and economic issues, but that can be done.

However, one discordant note for Oberweis from Kathy might be her "coolness," toward caps on non-economic damages in medical malpractice and tort lawsuits. Indeed, Kathy Salvi taught Al Salvi how to be a "trial lawyer." So, the Salvi family might be less than enamored with some of Oberweis' views on tort reform. See the last few minutes of my video interview with Kathy. Well, Jim, just remember, as Mick said, you can't always get what you want, but if you try some time, you just might find, you get what you need.

Some suggest her 8th CD campaign is floundering a bit, so this might be opportunity knocking. Kathy told Oberweis she is honored and flattered and is actively considering the proposal.

Meanwhile, Oberweis is asking his fans to circulate petitions for her while she decides, ala Birkett.

We don’t know, but rumor and innuendo has it that downstate Republican Primary Gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady is looking for an upstate suburban soccer mom to balance his ticket, geographically and by gender. High net worth, articulate, interested females should submit their resumes, photos and video interviews [preferably on “Public Affairs,”] to the Senator’s Bloomington office, and perhaps start circulating their petitions, too. While Brady is perhaps open to ideological balance, we suspect he prefers a social conservative. Oh yes, somebody who finds no fault with people named Kjellander would also be nice.

The media couldn’t be happier. Thank you Ron. Thank you Judy. Thank you Jim. Thank you Bill. Thank you Edwin. ************************************************ Jeff Berkowitz, Host and Producer of Public Affairs and an Executive Recruiter doing Legal Search, can be reached at JBCG@aol.com***********************